Background
Lysine crotonylation is a newly-identified histone post-translational modification that has come to light through integrated proteomic approaches and elaborate biochemistry analyses. Lysine crotonylation has been found to be evolutionarily conserved across multiple species, spanning both prokaryotes and eukaryotes, and occurs in a wide range of proteins, incuding histones and non-histone substrates. The unique structure and genomic localization of lysine crotonylation suggest that it is mechanistically and functionally different from lysine acetylation. Specifically, in both human somatic and mouse male germ cell genomes, histone crotonylation marks either active promoters or potential enhancers. Crotonylation of histone H3 at Lys18 may play a vital role in the epigenetic modulation, including chromatin remodeling and DNA transcriptional regulation.
Cellular location
Nucleus